An action-packed day 3 of World Congress 2017!

An action-packed day 3 of World Congress 2017

With 1 Keynote, 3 Technical Sessions, 11 Symposia Sessions, SafeYouth@Work Dialogue and Singapore Night, day 3 of World Congress 2017 turned out to be equally action-packed! Here are some highlights in day 3.

Keynote 3: People-centred PreventionMr Heng Chiang Gnee, Chairman, WSH Council, is our third Keynote speaker at World Congress 2017. In his speech, Mr Heng shared major milestones of Singapore’s safety and health journey and changes made to Singapore’s WSH framework. And as prevention has become key to ensure workers’ safety and health, people must be the centre of prevention measures. Mr Heng highlighted the importance of having leaders being convinced that human lives are important, “Leadership is key. It is important to set goals and translate them to union and employer level. Though we have many challenges, we can build a culture of care which lead to trust.”

SafeYouth@Work Dialogue125 youths from 29 countries, aged 18-24 years old, took part at SafeYouth@Work dialogue session. Youths explored case studies and experiences of young workers, and designed prototypes for OSH initiatives to create safer working conditions. In her speech, Second Minister for Manpower, Josephine Teo, highlighted the importance of the SafeYouth@Work Congress as a useful platform to nurture young leaders around the world to support OSH and an excellent opportunity for them to share ideas and renew their commitment to serve their community to advocate safety for young workers.

Technical Session 5: The 4th Industrial Revolution the Future of PreventionOrganised by International Social Security Association

The 4th industrial revolution is bringing changes to our lives. Future scenarios of robots working side by side with human beings are no longer an utopia but already existing. There are more and more programmes and appliances powered by artificial intelligence. It is now necessary to embrace the digitalisation in our lives and plan for the future. We have to prepare the younger generation for challenges of the digital age.

S02: Good Practices on OSH in SMEs
Organised by: Institut National de Recherche et de Sécurité, France, and European
Agency for Safety and Health at Work

Speakers shared good OSH practices for SMEs in their countries. These include:
• Brazil: Created AGIL, a free technology app, to diagnose and improve safety and health at work.
• Chile: Keep the safety message simple to workers and make sure the safety message gets to the management.
• Singapore: Co-funding for training for SMEs leading up to bizSAFE Level 3. Worked with Town Councils to get their contractors bizSAFE certified. A pilot programme on Total WSH centre has been set up to do outreach to SMEs.

S15: People-centred prevention strategies on OSH
Organised by: European Network on Education and Training on OSH, Occupational Safety and Health Council, Hong Kong and Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Turkey

In this session, delegates were divided into four groups to discuss and recommend best people-centred approaches. The groups presented their recommendations near the end of the session and all delegates got to vote for the best approach. Interesting ideas from the discussions include:
• Build quality and quantity relationships with people inside the organisation to gain success in OSH.
• Make people the centre of OSH policies and empower workers to do the right things.
• Upgrade workers’ knowledge and skills by bringing the service to them and customising programmes and services to their needs.

An understanding of human behaviour is important because that will affect how people response in unexpected situations. With such an understanding, work environment and processes can be redesigned so that making the right choice will always be the easier choice.

S27: Psychosocial risks: Mental Health and well-being at workOrganised by: Centre for Comparative Labour and Social Security Law (COMPTRASEC CNRS-University of Bordeaux)

Psychosocial stress is increasingly being recognised as one of the leading factors affecting workers’ health and wellbeing. To address this, we need a multi-prong approach. At the national level, policymakers need to set standards, build capability of OSH specialists to support industry and facilitate tripartite collaboration between employers and employees. At the individual level, psychosocial risks at work should be identified and included in risk assessments.

Day 3 of the World Congress ended on a high with Singapore Night. Delegates from 100 countries experienced the warmth of Singapore’s hospitality. They enjoyed uniquely Singaporean food that earned Singapore its reputation of being a gourmet haven and were entertained by renowned local musicians throughout the evening.

Stay tuned for learnings and updates from Day 4 of World Congress 2017!